92 Chinese Spring BAC libraries

Since 2005, the French Plant Genomic Resources Center has preserved, maintained, and managed collections of BAC libraries of the wheat variety Chinese Spring. 92 libraries consisting of 4,351,560 clones are available for the research community:

• The whole genome BAC libraries (http://doi.org/10.1007/BF03543362)
• The flow sorted chromosome specific BAC libraries, developed at the Institute of Experimental Botany (IEB) (Olomouc, Czech Republic). These were used to develop physical maps for the IWGSC RefSeq project and are available in their entirety or as clones defining chromosomal minimum tilling path.

BAC libraries are arrayed into 384-well microtiter plates bar-coded and stored in -80°C freezers. Two copies of each BAC library (master copy and a replicate copy) are produced, tracked with a unique barcode and stored separately. The data management system used at CNRGV allows the secure storage of information and the tracking of each clone and plate.

Use for precision map-based cloning

Even with advances in sequencing technologies, BAC libraries remain useful for precision map-based cloning, especially for complex plant genome such as wheat.

BAC clones allow individualizing the sequences of the homoeologous regions of interest. This is important for bread wheat's polyploidy as one BAC's insert can only have one single chromosomal origin. BAC libraries can also be custom-made to characterize a genetically modified accession and thus, are tools of choice to precisely characterize insertion sites.

How to access the BAC libraries

The CNRGV offers a wide range of genomic services, customized to meet the needs of the global research community. The best way to start a conversation is to contact them at infocnrgv-toulouse@inrae.fr. Depending on the request, the CNRGV team will provide a complete solution, including sample shipment and data management.

The list of BAC libraries available is here https://cnrgv.toulouse.inrae.fr/Library/Wheat

For a list of genomic services provided, go to https://cnrgv.toulouse.inrae.fr/Services

About the CNRGV

The French Plant Genomic Resources Center (CNRGV) is a unique infrastructure belonging to the French National Research Institute for Agriculture, Food and Environment (INRAE).

The CNRGV is both a Biological Resources Center dedicated to plant genomic resources from model and crop plants, and a laboratory that offers services to the national and international scientific community to help characterize plant genomic diversity and understand how plants adapt to their environment.

The Center is certified following the ISO 9001:2015 standards and the NF S96-900 standards for Biological Resources Center.

CNRGV conserves relevant BAC and cDNA libraries of model and crop plants, such as Arabidopsis thaliana, Medicago truncatula, tomato, wheat, pepper, grapevine, rapeseed, maize, pea and sunflower.

CNRGV offers a wide range of services for the study of plant genomes:

• Genomic samples storage & distribution
• Targeted BAC library construction & screening
• High molecular weight DNA extraction
• Genome optical mapping using Bionano genomics technology
• Whole Genome Characterization: “From the seed to the genome”
• Targeted DNA fragment capture
• Solutions for genome assembly and annotation